The Welsh Wire: Kyle Kunnen of Mercantile Bank of Michigan

Fraudulent communications are one of the biggest challenges facing customers of any financial institution, according to Kyle Kunnen, Senior Vice President and Information Security Officer at Mercantile Bank of Michigan in Grand Rapids. Kunnen recently discussed these financial security challenges with Sheri Welsh on The Welsh Wire podcast, sponsored by the Family Business Alliance.

Kunnen explained that fraudulent communications can come to businesses in many forms–from printed material in your mailbox, to text messages, to shady emails.

If you think you’ve become a victim of a financial scam, “Call your institution right away. And they can start trying to get that transaction stopped and reversed and hopefully get your money back,” Kunnen said.

He advises business owners to be suspicious of any email that comes into their organization that requests payment. He also suggests implementing dual controls–have one person able to initiate payment but require a second, independent person to approve the final transaction.

Financial communications security is as much a mindset as anything else, Kunnen said.

“You think of your corporate culture, but there’s actually a security culture too. And so what you’re doing is you’re building your security culture in that mindset that everybody in the organization needs to be in tune with. And as you get new people on staff, you have to bring them up to speed.”

Listen to Sheri’s full interview with Kyle Kunnen.

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